Red, Red, Lips!

December 21, 2008 |

So there I was thinking that I wanted red lips for the festive season but I didn’t have a single red lip product. A quick rummage through my collection revealed about…er, 20 different red lipstick and glosses. So I don’t need a new one. Nevertheless I did a few quick swatches of the four products that stood out and to decide what would be suitable for the festive season.

The Matte

Nars Velvet Matte pencil in Cruella

There are a few other choices in the Nars range but I own Cruella, which is a dark, true blue based red. I love blue based reds although it means they are more serious to wear….more evening than day.

If blue based reds ain’t your thing there are other shades of red in this range. I like this because its such a grown up red, but I reserve it for evening occasions. Velvet matte is great under a gloss but a bit drying for me if I wear it on its own. You can use this without a lipliner which is a bonus.

Marks: 3.5/5

The Glossy Lipstick

Paul & Joe Limited Edition Reds in 002

There are 3 in this range, 001 for a natural red, 002 is the one we are looking at and 003 is a matte, evening red. I own all three and 002 is my favourite. That’s because 001 is sheer and indeed very very easy to wear but it’s almost to wishy washy. It’s like wearing sparkly turquoise eyeshadow as a sheer wash. Some colours need to be STRONG. 003 is a matte red and it’s nice but not as plumping or fun as 002.

This has a really nice glossy soft texture – it is still quite pigmented though so you will need some lipliner or some way of keeping the colour neat and controlled. It’s borderline wearable for the day – a blot perhaps and some gloss would make it office friendly.

Marks: 4/5

The Pure Red Gloss

Nars Bloodwork

This is not for the faint hearted. A true red, fearless and bold – this gloss is highly pigmented (the following swatch was just from one dip):

This is such a fun, fun, fun red. I didn’t use lipliner because…I’m too lazy to find one, but obviously when using such a strong gloss you should really use a lipliner, all over the lip so the gloss has something to grip on to.

The red really is bold – you need to little of this product. This is like the red that is sexy and vampy, that isn’t shy. You just have to be careful with application because if you apply it like how I normally apply gloss (slap it on) then you are going to look like the joker.

It also makes the lips look really lush. You just have to be commited to wear it.

Marks: 4.5/5

The Fun Red Gloss

Chanel Big Bang Gloss

Big Bang is like an orgasm on the lips – no, not like that. It’s a sheer red with a million microsparkles, that no photograph could ever do justice to.

Big Bang isn’t LE in the UK but it is in some parts of the world. It’s the easiest to wear of the bunch I have reviewed today – sparkly, fun, moisturizing, gorgeous. When Chanel does lip glitter, they really do is amazingly well.

Marks: 5/5

So for my day to day, I’ll stick to Chanel’s Big Bang, for Christmas Eve, I’ll use the Paul & Joe, for parties Bloodwork, for Christmas Day, Cruella with gloss on top.

Another added bonus is that your boyfriend won’t go anywhere near you when you have bright red lips. Men find it abhorrent apparently, a bit like tights and bangs.

Cruella is awesome! You must try it under Fire Down Below lipstick – it’s amazing! Fire Down Below on it’s own is pretty wrong, kind of dried blood red, quite hard to wear but over Cruella it is most amazing!